Late gaffe costs Twins in 6-2 loss at Texas

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – Aaron Hicks spun, took a dozen swift steps back toward the center field fence, and began to slow down as Mitch Moreland's fly ball descended. He was in deep center field, but still short of the warning track, and seemed to have no trouble tracking the final out of the eighth inning, snuffing Texas' bases-loaded rally and preserving the tie.

Actually, it wasn't so simple.

The ball glanced off the thumb of Hicks' glove as he ran and bounded to the wall. Rangers runners, believing the inning was over, suddenly sped up, with Delino DeShields jumping in the air for joy as he touched the plate. The two-base error broke a tie, and doomed the Twins to their first four-game losing streak of the season, and a painful 6-2 loss to Texas.

"It's just ridiculous. I don't understand how I missed the ball," Hicks said after his first error of the season. "I know I make that play every time."

Every time but one.

"He tracked it down, from my viewpoint, and then the ball was behind him," manager Paul Molitor said. "Sometimes you lose your vision because it's a little harder to follow into the glove that last 3 or 4 feet."

And while Hicks' error, and a two-run single that followed it, enabled the winning runs to score, the real culprit for the Twins' loss was their hitting, not their defense. After being dominated by Jason Vargas and Chris Young earlier in the week, the Twins once again looked helpless against a soft-tosser, this time Texas righthander Wandy Rodriguez. With a fastball that doesn't even match the low-90s temperatures around here, Rodriguez befuddled the Twins for long stretches, inducing one ground ball after another. He struck out six, retired 18 consecutive batters at one point, and threw 122 pitches, fourth-most in a game this season.

But maybe his pedestrian speeds were beside the point. Junkballer or fireballer, "I don't really know if it matters right now, because we seem to be pressing at the plate," Molitor said of the Twins, who have scored only five runs during this losing streak. "The pattern is, we're just not putting together very good innings, no matter who's out there."

The Twins got a first-inning run, but even that was a disappointment — or once would have been. "The way things were going, I was happy with one run because we haven't even been doing that as of late," Molitor said. "But we still couldn't get the big hit."

The first three hitters got on, loading the bases with no outs — but all the Twins got was a sacrifice fly.

Still, it was enough for Tommy Milone to carry the lead into the seventh inning, matching Rodriguez's speed-bump pitching with shutout results — until Elvis Andrus, the singles hitter in the middle of Texas' sluggers, blasted a mistake pitch into the stands to put Texas ahead 2-1.

"Up and in. Well, it was supposed to be in, but I left it over the plate, and he's a good high-ball hitter," Milone said. "I guess I haven't seen Andrus as much of a power hitter, but he can definitely drive the ball."

Brian Dozier tied the score in the eighth with one of his short-stroke specials to left field off reliever Tanner Scheppers, his 12th home run. But that just set the stage for Hicks' mistake. A leadoff walk and a single put two runners on, but a botched bunt and a grounder to first produced two outs. Molitor chose to walk Prince Fielder, loading the bases for Moreland, who was 1-for-11 against Brian Duensing. And it only took the lefthander one pitch to retire Moreland. Or so it appeared.

"It was just a low liner that was hit hard. For me, I catch that ball all the time," Hicks said. "It's a pretty tough play, but I believe in myself and I know I make that play all the time. Just happened to miss it today."

"He's played really good defense since he's been up here," Molitor said. "We don't have any issues with how he's gone about playing defense. It's just one of those mistakes that came at a critical time in the game, obviously. And he didn't make the play."

Hicks stood with his hands on his knees for a few moments after the play was over, and Torii Hunter came over from right field during a pitching change to offer support. "I've been there before. I've been in situations where I've dove for a ball that got by me and caused the winning runs," Hunter said. "It hurts today, it stings today, but in the end, it makes you a better person, better player.

"All you can do is have amnesia, come in tomorrow and forget about it."